Portable cooler and game assembly

ABSTRACT

A portable cooler and game assembly includes a cooler attached to a collapsible stand, a frame attached to the cooler capable of extending above the cooler, and a game board attached to the frame. The game board includes one or more catch nets attached to one or more toss holes contained within the game board. A side net is attached to the cooler for retaining a set of playing objects. The assembly also includes a carrying bag for holding the cooler, frame, game board, and playing objects.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/131,494, filed Jun. 10, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the fields of portable coolers and games.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A need exists for an improved portable cooler and game assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, a portable cooler and game assembly includes a cooler attached to a collapsible stand, a frame attached to the cooler capable of extending above the cooler, and a game board attached to the frame. In certain embodiments, the game board includes one or more catch nets attached to one or more toss holes contained within the game board. A side net may be attached to the cooler for retaining a set of playing objects. The assembly also preferably includes a carrying bag for holding the cooler, frame, game board, and playing objects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, wherein the drawings illustrate features in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and wherein:

FIGS. 1 a-1 f are a series of perspective views of the portable cooler and game assembly;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the portable cooler and game assembly;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the portable cooler and game assembly illustrating the backboard in a partially folded condition; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the carrying case for the portable cooler and game assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1-3 illustrates various views of the portable cooler game assembly of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 1 a-1 f, the game concept may include virtually any game that includes a thrown, kicked, tossed, shot or otherwise moved playing object, such as a ball, puck, disk or other similar object. Thus, the game concept may be based on baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, boxing, and other sports or games.

The assembly includes cooler, preferably a soft-sided collapsible cooler. The lining of the cooler may be a PVC waterproof fabric. The outside of the cooler may be formed from pebble leather copy or a poly or a poly/cotton denier material. The cooler is preferably attached to a stand, such as a set of collapsible legs that allow the cooler to be set up at the game location at a height which allows one to access the interior of the cooler without bending down. The folding or collapsible legs are preferably powder coated steel tubes having metal joints for folding. The legs may be 16 mm in diameter and 1 mm in thickness.

The assembly includes a game board attached to the cooler. The game board may be rigid, foldable or collapsible, such as canvas, plastic, leather, poly, poly/cotton denier or other material placed over a folding or collapsible frame attached to the cooler. For example, the frame may be formed from 13 mm powder coated steel tubes that may be attached to the cooler using rods extended into slots in the back of the cooler. The game board may slide over and onto, or otherwise be attached to the frame. As illustrated in the various Figures, the game board may include one or more catch nets attached to one or more toss holes for easy retrieval of thrown balls.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the entire portable cooler stand, game board and playing objects preferably collapse and/or fold into one portable carrying bag, such as a 210D poly carrying bag with an attached shoulder strap, for ease of travel.

Preferably the assembly includes a varied number of playing objects, i.e., toss balls or disks, such as footballs, basketballs, baseballs, or any sport ball or disks. The assembly may also include a side net for retaining the playing objects when not in use.

The assembly may be fabricated into a variety of shapes and sizes. For example, the cooler and stand (in an expanded state) may be approximately 16 inches wide, 16 inches deep and 30 inches high. With the game board attached, the assembly may stand approximately 60 inches high.

The assembly described herein includes a portable cooler that allows users to access the cooler without having to bend down and has as an added benefit a sports game included into a single unit.

Although certain illustrative embodiments and methods have been disclosed herein, it will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure to those skilled in the art that variations and modifications of such embodiments and methods may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention should be limited only to extent required by the appended claims and the rules and principals of applicable law. 

1. A portable cooler and game assembly comprising: a cooler attached to a collapsible stand; a frame attached to the cooler capable of extending above the cooler; a game board attached to the frame, wherein the game board includes one or more catch nets attached to one or more toss holes contained within the game board; a side net attached to the cooler for retaining a set of playing objects; and a carrying bag for holding the cooler, frame, game board, and playing objects. 